One or more existing techniques for determining rock property data from seismic data are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,543 (Guerillot et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,515 (Guerillot et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,269 (Fournier); U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,589 (Armitage), U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,001 (Neff), U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,394 (Doyea), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,185 (Taner et al.). The techniques described by Guerillot depend on a combination of exploration data, e.g., seismic data or an initial geologic model, in addition to production data to constrain an inversion for a geologic model that represents the physical quantity of interest. The techniques discussed by Fournier deduce geologic properties via a statistical calibration of seismic attributes and geologic parameters, and Doyea estimates lithology from seismic data with a statistical method, e.g., a Monte Carlo method. Taner discusses generating an estimate of lithological characteristics of a region of the earth's subsurface by correlating attributes of synthetic seismic data. Neff discusses determining petrophysical properties of a subterranean layer by comparing synthetic seismograms to the reflection seismic data. Armitage evaluates seismic sequence lithology and property by converting seismic velocity data to reveal the presence of seismic lithological sequences.
One or more existing techniques are also described in “Predicting VShale and Porosity Using Cascaded Seismic and Rock Physics Inversion,” Saltzer et al., The Leading Edge, 24, no. 7, 732-736, (2005); “Predicting Vshale and Porosity Using Cascaded Seismic and Rock Physics Inversion,” Saltzer et al., SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 24, no. 1, 1390-1392, (2005), “Using Linear Combinations of Angle Stacks to Predict Band-Limited Porosity and Vshale,” Saltzer et al., SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 24, no. 1, 1303-1306, (2005); “Lithofacies Prediction in Clastic Deep Water Reservoirs,” Oppert et al., SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 25, no. 1, 1708-1711, (2006); and “Sand/Shale Discrimination in Mixed-Impedance Reservoirs Using AVO Attributes,” Oppert et al., SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 23, no. 1, 1495-1498, (2004).
Although results from the foregoing described techniques have been used to provide input to simulations of reservoir-scale earth models that are used to predict the flow of hydrocarbon fluids, each of these aforementioned techniques generally do not implement seismically derived rock property data and discrete mathematical models to calculate relevant transport property data, e.g., thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, permeability, and/or capillary threshold pressure. In addition, although basin-scale pressure simulation results have been used for enhancing seismic processing, this technology does not use seismic transport property data to populate a transport model for pressure simulations.